[Boatanchors] Aircraft inverter - what to do with it?

[Charles]

At a junk store the other day, I picked up a vintage 400 Hz rotary 
inverter for cheap. Bendix Red Bank model 1518-1-H. The only manuals I 
could find online costs far more than I paid for the unit... and has a 
copyright date of 1949! The unit was serviced by "Aerolectric" some 
unreadable time ago from the paper tag, and the brushes look brand-new 
when I removed the end caps. It's really clean inside, as is the 
primitive regulation system inside the box. The sealed ball bearings 
feel gummy, but they're inexpensive so I ordered replacements. $4 for 
"Koyo" made-in-Japan at the Big Bearing Store.com... I didn't want to 
invest $25-30 each in Timkens, and I knew better than to buy the $1.87 
Chinese ones

It's capable of 115 volts at a healthy 1500 VA single phase, or 2000 VA 
three phase. Of course, as with most vintage motor-generators like this, 
the efficiency is at best 55% at full load from what little info I could 
find online. So that requires 27.5 VDC at 115 amps! Don't know what the 
no-load input current is, but nonzero I'm guessing at least 20 amps with 
a horrendous inrush current. Anyhow... I would need to build one BFPS 
(Big Power Supply) to run this 38 lb. beast under load. Wouldn't be 
cheap, or lightweight if a linear supply. Or, two hefty 12-volt 
batteries in series, and charge them offline. Also not cheap these days.

I've already got a static inverter I bought years ago from Fair Radio 
and repaired with new power transistors, that converts 115/60 to 115/400 
at 1 KVA. And I don't even use it! When I was a kid, 400 Hz military 
gear was relatively plentiful and cheap because no one wanted it 
(lacking a power source)... once I finally had it, the surplus gear had 
all dried up, probably parted out or scrapped.

So, I'm just rambling... I don't really have a use for it, but wanted to 
save it from the eventual scrapper or rust-in-place. Any thoughts?

-Charles